music

12 October 2004

Heaven's Gate Rereleased

Don't miss the big screen version of notorious epic western Heaven's Gate. The $54M film - the most expensive ever, when made in 1980 - sank its studio, United Artists. However, extrordinary cinematography and historical attention to detail, c. 1890 Wyoming, as well as stellar performances by Isabelle Huppert and Kris Kristopherson make it's harsh critical panning all but incomprehensible. We did it in two sittings, the second of which is only an hour and a bit, and would also advise the documentary about the film, based on the book Final Cut. Charts how the film's brilliance and its flaws get ignored by critics' moralistic damning of directorial excess. At Film Forum for a couple more days, simultaneously with Tarnation, whose production (au contraire) cost an alleged $218.